epoll

A low-level Node.js binding for the Linux epoll API for monitoring multiple
file descriptors to see if I/O is possible on any of them.

This module was initially written to detect EPOLLPRI events indicating that
urgent data is available for reading. EPOLLPRI events are triggered by
interrupt generating GPIO
pins. The epoll module is used by onoff
to detect such interrupts.

epoll supports Node.js versions 0.10, 0.12, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Installation

Note that epoll can only be installed successfully on Linux systems. Attempting
to install epoll on other systems will result in compile errors.

npm install epoll

API

Epoll(callback) - Constructor. The callback is called when epoll events
occur and it gets three arguments (err, fd, events).

Event types can be combined with | when calling add or modify. For example,
Epoll.EPOLLPRI | Epoll.EPOLLONESHOT could be passed to add to detect a single
GPIO interrupt.

Example - Watching Buttons

The following example shows how epoll can be used to detect interrupts from a
momentary push-button connected to GPIO #4 (pin P1-7) on the Raspberry Pi.
The source code is available in the example directory and can
easily be modified for using a different GPIO on the Pi or a different platform
such as the BeagleBone.

The first step is to export GPIO #4 as an interrupt generating input using
the export bash script from the examples directory.

./export

export:

#!/bin/sh

echo 4 > /sys/class/gpio/export

echoin> /sys/class/gpio/gpio4/direction

echo both > /sys/class/gpio/gpio4/edge

Then run watch-button to be notified every time the button is pressed and
released. If there is no hardware debounce circuit for the push-button, contact
bounce issues are very likely to be visible on the console output.
watch-button terminates automatically after 30 seconds.

node watch-button

watch-button:

var Epoll =require('../../build/Release/epoll').Epoll,

fs =require('fs'),

valuefd =fs.openSync('/sys/class/gpio/gpio4/value','r'),

buffer =newBuffer(1);

// Create a new Epoll. The callback is the interrupt handler.

var poller =newEpoll(function(err,fd,events){

// Read GPIO value file. Reading also clears the interrupt.

fs.readSync(fd, buffer,0,1,0);

console.log(buffer.toString()==='1'?'released':'pressed');

});

// Read the GPIO value file before watching to

// prevent an initial unauthentic interrupt.

fs.readSync(valuefd, buffer,0,1,0);

// Start watching for interrupts.

poller.add(valuefd,Epoll.EPOLLPRI);

// Stop watching after 30 seconds.

setTimeout(function(){

poller.remove(valuefd).close();

},30000);

When watch-button has terminated, GPIO #4 can be unexported using the
unexport bash script.

./unexport

unexport:

#!/bin/sh

echo 4 > /sys/class/gpio/unexport

Example - Interrupts Per Second

The following example shows how epoll can be used to determine the number of
hardware interrupts that can be handled per second on the Raspberry Pi.
The source code is available in the example directory and
can easily be modified to use different GPIOs on the Raspberry Pi or a
different platform such as the BeagleBone.

In this example, GPIO #7 is wired to one end of a 1kΩ current limiting
resistor and GPIO #8 is wired to the other end of the resistor. GPIO #7 is an
input and GPIO #8 is an output.

The first step is to export GPIOs #7 and #8 using the export bash script from
the examples directory.

./export

export:

#!/bin/sh

echo 7 > /sys/class/gpio/export

echo 8 > /sys/class/gpio/export

echoin> /sys/class/gpio/gpio7/direction

echo both > /sys/class/gpio/gpio7/edge

echo out > /sys/class/gpio/gpio8/direction

Then run interrupts-per-second. interrupts-per-second toggles the state of the
output every time it detects an interrupt on the input. Each toggle will
trigger the next interrupt. After five seconds, interrupts-per-second prints
the number of interrupts it detected per second.

node interrupts-per-second

interrupts-per-second:

var Epoll =require('../../build/Release/epoll').Epoll,

fs =require('fs'),

inputfd =fs.openSync('/sys/class/gpio/gpio7/value','r+'),

outputfd =fs.openSync('/sys/class/gpio/gpio8/value','r+'),

value =newBuffer(1),// The three Buffers here are global

zero =newBuffer('0'),// to improve performance.

one =newBuffer('1'),

count =0,

time;

// Create a new Epoll. The callback is the interrupt handler.

var poller =newEpoll(function(err,fd,events){

var nextValue;

count++;

// Read GPIO value file. Reading also clears the interrupt.

fs.readSync(inputfd, value,0,1,0);

// Toggle GPIO value. This will eventually result

// in the next interrupt being triggered.

nextValue = value[0]=== zero[0]?one: zero;

fs.writeSync(outputfd, nextValue,0,nextValue.length,0);

});

time =process.hrtime();// Get start time.

// Start watching for interrupts. This will trigger the first interrupt

// as the value file already has data waiting for a read.

poller.add(inputfd,Epoll.EPOLLPRI);

// Print interrupt rate to console after 5 seconds.

setTimeout(function(){

var rate;

time =process.hrtime(time);// Get run time.

rate =Math.floor(count /(time[0]+ time[1]/1E9));

console.log(rate +' interrupts per second');

// Stop watching.

poller.remove(inputfd).close();

},5000);

When interrupts-per-second has terminated, GPIOs #7 and #8 can be unexported
using the unexport bash script.